I generally welcome the recent embrace of patina in the old car world. Not every worthwhile classic should be restored to better than new. On the other hand, the fetishization of patina in the form of dirty “barnfinds” or cleared-over faded paint and rust or, worst of all, faked Scotch-brite patina specials just rub me the wrong way. Sometimes, though, I come across an old car with what can only be described as perfect patina, and of course, it would be on an old pickup, the only vehicle that could probably be sold new looking this way. It’s been used, but not too hard.
The Advanced Design Chevrolet (and GMC) pickups first debuted in mid-1947, replacing the wonderfully styled but functionally archaic AK Series pickups.
The Advanced Design pickups then ran through mid-1955 with subtle differences between the years. Certain clues indicate that this one is likely a 1951: for example, the doors first obtained vent wings in 1951, but they maintained the older style twist door handles that year. In 1952, the door handles were updated to the push-button style. GM significantly updated the styling of the trucks in 1954 with single-piece windshields and updated grilles and box sides. The doors, combined with the year-of-manufacture California license plate, tell me this is, indeed, a 1951, though the ease of swapping doors and such could lead me astray. The taillights are from a later truck.
Given the top-down surface rust, it wouldn’t surprise me if this truck has lived its entire life here in California. Palo Cedro is a small town near Redding in the far north end of California’s central valley, which is generally quite dry with lots of sunshine, perfect for burning off paint on the horizontal surfaces while inhibiting rust anywhere else.
It may have begun life in the Central Valley, but this Chevy has been sitting for several months in front of a house adjacent to Stanford University with a significant construction project going on in the back. It’s unclear if it’s owned by the homeowners or if it’s possibly some sort of marketing tool for one of the contractors. With no modern signage, my guess is it’s owned by whoever lives in the house.
The exterior patina doesn’t extend to the interior, which has clearly been refinished and updated. A rather inviting place to sit, I would say; it’s where we spend the vast majority of time with our cars, after all. This one has been updated with three point seat belts and has the relatively rare for a truck stock AM radio.
Given the spider webs and the fact that it’s always in exactly the same spot, I don’t think this old Chevy has been driven in months. But I’m ready to jump in and take it for a spin. It looks just right on the outside without being a punishment on the inside.
Have always been fascinated that this was the 1st of GM’s new post-war models.
It pre-dated new passenger car designs …… by a couple of years.
Love the early ones, but the ’54 split grill …… not so much…..
This one’s spectacular.
Interesting to note then the Advance Design generation was made in Brazil until the early 1960s as the 3100.
https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_343818-Chevrolet-Brasil-3100-3104-1962.html
https://www.imcdb.org/vehicles_make-Chevrolet_model-Brasil+3100.html
Nice truck! A neighbor of mine has a similarly patina-ed blue ‘55 truck, of the next generation. Apparently he’s had it a while, since long before I moved here. He drives it occasionally, and at some point upgraded the powertrain from six cylinder to a 350. But it still has the 4 speed with granny low. I’ll try to get some pictures and post it here.
That is some lovely patina. Not a fan of the fake business signs on the door but I can understand the appeal.
The GM trucks of this generation are just about perfect in execution. I’d like to own one at some point.
Yeah, I can’t decide if the door lettering is fake or not. It’s not as patinaed as you would expect given the rest of the truck, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t real at some point. It’s possible there was original lettering that was touched up. I’ve never seen anyone around the truck when I pass it, or I would have asked about it.
I’m on the added much later and scotch brite’d to “fade it”.
#1 I don’t see color under the letters on the driver’s side, I see rust.
#2 The lettering on the driver’s side has a white “halo” indicating the paint that was removed ended up embedded in the rust.
The phone # on door–
“DK2-1051”
The letters were the “exchange.” They were the 1st 2 letters of a word or name.
A quick check of online dictionaries doesn’t show any English words starting with “dk”
You’re correct. Back in the old days of the phone company, the exchange was 2 letters and a number. Eventually they dropped the letters and used the corresponding numbers on the telephone dial. In this case, the DK2 became 352. So this could very well be original.
The exchange wasn’t always the first two letters of a word. Sometimes they were just two prominent letters in a word or the first letters of two words.
Maybe the exchange was Denmark … now 35. I remember YUkon was pretty popular; ours when I was growing up was LAndscape, now 52.
Growing up my exchange was RO2-XXXX. The RO was for Roger. There was also BE for Beryl. 36 was for Emerald.
I captured this 53 Chevy van at a garden center recently It still gets daily use as a yard vehicle. It is, as you can see, sans patina.
………. No Beryl in our neigjborhood. Instead, “BE” was BEverly-5.” Makes a good case for area codes …….
(Beverly was a daughter of the real estate developer)
But we’re going off-topic ……
In Australia the letters were often random. My childhood number was XA 2901. The exchange would have been St. KIlda South or Elwood. Go figure!
Back when the General was at the TOP of its game. Something about these will always speak to me.
And it’s EASY to place a body/bed upon an S-10 chassis, stick a V8 in it and enjoy as fun, daily transportation at highway speeds. A neighbor has done it with a ’54 GMC 100.
These are indeed appealing trucks, both then and now. I look forward to more finds from your area!
Awesome pictures! The background scenery captures the beauty of the truck well!
Yes.
I always enjoy finding these trucks in Oregon and try and take photos whenever possible. I have photos of them all the way from The Coast, to Portland, and all the way to Pendleton. Such nice looking vehicles and nice to see they are still around.
Maybe not in the US but local assembly Chevs had primer under the topcoat that appears to have none and has sunburnt direct to metal.
Not sure, but these may have had a red primer, so it can be hard to tell rust from the red oxide primer.
Truly outstanding photos, and great premise. I vote that this is perfect patina.
First initial glance made me think “Sanford & Son”.
My 2004 Ranger that has spent its entire life in the Sacramento area is well on its way to this pattern of patina, loss of clearcoat on the hood and top but clean underneath. its fiberglass stepsides, however, will never rust so it might be an odd look.
Great photos & patina.
My grandfather who was a farmer died in 1976, he bequeathed his Advance Design Chevy pickup (likely a ‘51) to my older brother who had just turned 16. I never understood why my brother got the truck considering the large number of grandchildren and that we lived second furthest away.
Granddad’s then 25 y/o pickup was in great condition and had little rust (rather extraordinary for being in Wisconsin). My brother only kept the truck for a couple months. As I recall Advance Design trucks were starting to become collectible, but not a cool vehicle for a suburban high schooler to drive in 1976. This truck may have started my brother’s car collecting (he had 3 a one time for a while). After the pickup he had a ‘68 Dodge Coronet 4dr, ‘69 Toyota Corona 4dr, ‘73 Chevelle 4dr, ‘73 Mercury Capri, and finally a car he held on to a ‘69 Dodge Dart 340 Swinger.